Thoughts from the Inner Mind

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On a Beach Walk: No. 45 (Windows)

I like walking the beach. It’s good for the mind, body, and soul – and refreshing on my feet.

As I walk, I look at the buildings. Regardless of the size and location, all have windows – those panes of glass providing light, views, and protection to those inside.

The windows are different sizes and orientations. The vast majority are rectangular while the multi-sided and circular are few – yet, all these windows trigger my thoughts on this day. Yes, windows – those mere openings in a wall covered by glass.

My head turns away from the buildings and toward the water where I spot the horizon – that line where the water meets the sky as I wonder what lies beyond that metaphoric window.

On this day many clouds fill the sky while serving as a translucent window allowing light through while blocking what lies above. The occasional hole of blue serves as a reminder of other days while blue patches serve as a window beyond the clouds.

Even on the cloudless days, the blue sky serves as a window shade to what lies beyond for night is what allows us to raise the shade to examine and dream about what lies beyond.

The water’s surface serves as a window to the beauty and history to what lies below. However, one seldom sees that world until they pass through that window’s opening into the aquatic underworld.

I think of medical equipment as various scans and tests that allow medical professors to peer through the opaque window of our skin and bones into our internal world of normalcy and abnormality.

I think of microscopes allowing us to pass through a window into a world where our eyes cannot naturally go. I also think about telescopes taking us beyond our atmospheric window into a distant world that we try to imagine.

I think of other windows such as poems – a collection of a poet’s words causing us to reach deep into our soul for understanding of the poet’s world – a world that the poet allows us to discover by looking through the window of their words.

I think of books as windows – both fiction and nonfiction for they allow us to expand our world by travelling through the window of knowledge and creativity with reflection, learning, and fantasy.

I think of learning a process taking us through the window of a world that we do not know that works to close the window to ignorance while opening a seemingly infinite number of windows into a new world.

I think of windows are an interval of time – a span providing an opportunity – that golden hour – whether planned or by chance, that optimal moment for something to happen.

Windows – whether open or closed – real or metaphor – windows are worth pondering. Thinking about windows is a reason why walking the beach is good for the mind, body, and soul – and refreshing on my feet.

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54 thoughts on “On a Beach Walk: No. 45 (Windows)”

A lovely post… a reflection of windows, if you will allow me the pun.
I was especially taken by your thought … “occasional hole of blue”.
In my youth, I saw a movie called “A Patch of Blue”. It was one of those movies my parents let/wanted me to see.
It was in black & white, although all other movies were in colour. It was about a blind woman who finds an inner light…. a patch of blue.
Anyway… there’s something about this post that makes me want to see more of everything.

Pauline,
LOL … a lot of thinking about windows goes with a lot of walking. 🙂 Some houses + numerous condos/apartments of varying widths and heights + some open spaces. I have a post coming soon that will show some of the area. The post is about a walk that isn’t one of these walks.

It would be interesting to see the place you walk in Frank if you have thought to take some photos in between musings. It depends though – if you are anything like me, I walk and leave my phone at home so there is only ever pictures if someone else is with me.

Cindy,
As you know very well, the photographer’s lens is the window into the eyes of the photographer. I chose the song because of “window” being in the title and for the wonderful images the photographer captured.

Wow, Frank.
I love every word of this, and your tone so dreamy and thoughtful. These are for me, your very very very best posts. Apart from the concerts.. obviously!
I always use windows as metaphors in my poetry. Amazing how such a simple everyday object becomes so significant when you take its meaning and purpose beyond itself as you did here in so many different ways.
Super duper impressed with you.

Fiery,
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I can see how the posts in this series are your favorite – especially because they have a poetic feel. No matter the topic, I try to maintain a common feel and rhythm. As for windows, yes – a very useful metaphor – and to think I only touched on a few.

Another ‘window’ may be the eyes – which are said to be the windows to our souls. Children’s eyes are so open and honest and as we get older, we learn how to hide what is in ourselves thus making it harder for people to read what we are inside.

A very poetic post. I liked the idea of gaining “. . an understanding of the poet’s world . . . . by looking through the window of their words.” The thing about poetry is that every time I finish reading a poem I ask the question: Why don’t I read more poetry? Your window idea might have provided the impetus to pick up that copy of Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” sitting in the book stack beside my bed.

Such a lovely video of soothing music and stellar images. I hadn’t seen this video from Enya. I do love her songs. I would love to walk in a field of sunflowers. Big flowers looking like faces hugging me as I wander through. Aaahhhh …. 😌
I agree with you on books opening so many things for us; although, all of your thoughts on windows are splendidly impressive. A most enjoyable philosophical chat on the beach today ….
Isadora 😎

Frank, this is a fantastic post, and it speaks to me. We are currently so in tune with the “windows” of medical equipment, as we face the day to day decline of my step-sons battle with pancreatic cancer, and we have been spending our available time, walking the beach for clearing our minds. (He lives in a beach city.) I have a FitBit and Saturday I walked Manhattan Beach for so many hours that I racked up 20,000 steps. Why? Because it’s “It’s good for the mind, body, and soul – and refreshing on my feet.” 🙂

Debra,
Although not the best of circumstances for you, but glad this post brings you good thoughts … and the fact you are using walking the beach for yourself during this time. Then again, I know you love walking the beach! 🙂 Be strong!!!!